Table of contents for Issue 175 March/April 2017 in RUE MORGUE

After seven-plus years helming the world’s largest horror magazine, Rue Morgue’s editor-in-chief Dave Alexander is moving on to develop a new brand called Untold Horror, which will be centred around an in-development TV series of the same name. The show will delve into the bewildering trove of unmade movies, many of them half-realized projects from major directors. From Guillermo del Toro’s failed attempt to adapt H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness to David Cronenberg’s Frankenstein, from Roger Avery’s legendary script for the Phantasm series to the many stillborn projects of George A. Romero, Alexander and co-creator/co-writer Mark Pollesel have extensively researched a motherlode of unmade and lost films. “I was fascinated by the collapse of the At the Mountains of Madness adaptation,” Alexander says. “It reminded me of all…

FEMALE ADOLESCENCE HAS LONG BEEN A FERTILE SUBJECT FOR HORROR FILMMAKERS. The strange pains and powers that come with growing up a girl have been explored, with varying degrees of sensitivity and exploitation, in films as diverse as Valerie and her Week of Wonders (1970), The Exorcist (1973), Carrie (1976), Sleepaway Camp (1983), The Craft (1996), Hard Candy (2005), Teeth (2007), The Loved Ones (2009), Excision (2012), and last year’s hit The Witch, among many others. All of these films, however, were written and directed by men, and many focus on male anxiety over female power. (Think the castration fantasies/nightmares of Hard Candy and Teeth, and the worry of the father over Thomasin’s burgeoning womanhood in The Witch.) That’s not to say that men cannot write convincing female characters (or…

IT MIGHT SEEM WEIRD AT FIRST, THE FACT THAT GET OUT, JORDAN PEELE’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT, IS A HORROR-THRILLER. After all, the New York-born actor/writer made his name being funny on TV shows such as Childrens Hospital, MADtv and Fargo. Most famously he is one-half of the comedy team Key & Peele, alongside fellow MADtv alum Keegan-Michael Key. Their sketch show, suitably titled Key & Peele, ran from 2012 to 2015 on Comedy Central. They also co-starred in the 2016 comedy film Keanu, which Peele co-wrote. Horror, however, has been a major force in his life since he was a kid. His genre fandom – and desire to make horror movies – began like many of us: by watching TV in the middle of the night while his mother slept. “I…

THERE’S A PEACEFUL ATMOSPHERE AT OAKLEY COURT THAT’S ALMOST OTHERWORLDLY; and with its eclectic architecture, sprawling lawns and footpaths going off into dense wilderness and the scenic view of the River Thames, one gets the sense that he’s stepped into a place out of time. But for the multitude of gargoyles that litter the building and grounds, there is little indication that, if there is a Mecca for horror fandom, this is certainly it. In fact, for the first 90 years of its existence, no one could have guessed that Oakley was destined to become one of the most used filming locations in horror history. Built in 1859 for Sir Richard Hall-Say, it passed through multiple hands before 1919, when it came into the possession of Ernest Olivier. The Turkish…

THE SHORT FILM ISN’T BIG ENOUGH FOR SOME BOOGEYMEN, AS EVIDENCED BY MAMA AND LIGHTS OUT, WHICH WERE ADAPTED INTO MAJOR FEATURES. The most recent example, Child Eater, has much in common with Jalmari Helander’s Rare Exports, which also made a similar leap and was inspired by Scandinavian dark Christmas folklore. “I’m from Iceland,” says Child Eater writer/director Erlingur Óttar Thoroddsen, “and we have a lot of weird Christmas legends there. I love mythology and stuff like that, so I wanted to do something that explored it.” Thoroddsen drew specifically on tales of thirteen thieving Yuletide creatures and their mother, who steals bad children from their homes on Christmas Eve, takes them to her mountain abode and devours them. “I didn’t want to tell that story, necessarily,” he recalls, “but…

LITTLE HEAVEN Nick Cutter Gallery Books Pinging back and forth between 1980 and 1965, Little Heaven appears at first to be much more straightforward than it is. A man’s daughter is lured from the family home late one night and kidnapped by a mysterious being. The journey that follows, as well as the sordid history of the rescuers, proves much more sinister than meets the eye. Micah, the father of the young girl, calls on his two former “business associates” to help him find his daughter. As we are introduced to these questionable characters we learn that each has a special gift. Whether it is immortality or crops that seem to defy drought and pestilence, these singular blessings have marked the trio for the last fifteen years. Not coincidently, the…

When horror is compared to music, it’s sometimes equated with punk rock – edgy, dangerous and boundary-pushing. But we all know that a lot of horror stories never live up to that promise. After all, there are entire subgenres built on unnerving atmosphere, suburban nightmares and spectral sights half seen. So it’s nice to encounter a book that’s raw and subversive, and captures that outsider energy that attracted so many of us to not just watch and read horror but make it a lifestyle. Not shockingly, J. Daniel Stone’s Blood Kiss (2016, Villipede Publications) emerged from the realm of the small press. Loaded with queer (and straight) sex, drugs, violence, grime and child abuse (depicted in flashbacks), it’s a nihilistic romp through the underground art world with a pair of…

SOUNDTRACK UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS Michael Wandmacher LAKESHORE RECORDS The latest entry in the Underworld franchise features a compact score by genre veteran Michael Wandmacher (Cry Wolf, My Bloody Valentine 3D), who delivers a fairly standard group of action cues with churning strings, eerie sustained chords with electronic flanging and muffled pulses, plus a bit of digital feedback and rhythmic textures. These elements made Wandmacher’s prior scores a lot of fun, but the film’s music budget feels a lot tighter this go-round. The standout cues are actually the score’s quietest: the snarling tenor of “Semira Confronts Alexia” unfolds like a classic Universal monster track; breathy tones and arching squeals add chilling atmosphere in “The Nordic Coven”; and a solo vocal in “Sunlight” breaks through the score’s combative shield. Pivotal dramatic tracks…

“NOTE FROM UNDERGROUND” in RM#174 literally brought me to tears. Horror is so much more than the assumptions. Thank you, Rue! @NATALYACOMPOSER, VIA TWITTER I HAD GIVEN UP on Rue Morgue mostly due to Dave Alexander and his Libtard SJW rants, also what was creeping into other articles in a magazine I used to get much pleasure from cover to cover. My wife renewed my subscription for Christmas, which, although enabling me to read A. Gordon’s spot-on letter, I feel I was not missing anything giving up the mag. Really, Dave Alexander and his “like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony” rants killed it for me. From his “some of my best friends are, fill in the blank, gay, black, Hispanic, challenged, zombies,” to his laughable defence…

Popular character actor Miguel Ferrer died January 19, 2017 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 61, following a battle with throat cancer. Ferrer was best known to genre fans for his roles in Robocop, Twin Peaks, The Night Flier, Deep Star Six and The Stand, and most recently starred on the CBS series NCIS: Los Angeles. His passing was headline news, as many Hollywood stars paid tribute to Ferrer, including his cousin, George Clooney. “Miguel made the world brighter and funnier and his passing is felt so deeply in our family,” Clooney said in a statement. The son of actor Jose Ferrer and legendary singer/actress Rosemary Clooney, Ferrer got his start in the early ’80s, appearing on television series such as Magnum P.I., Hill Street Blues and Miami…

1 SLEEP TERROR HANGMAN SHIRT $26 Wear it to bed to keep you up at night – Sleep Terror’s Hangman shirt has the kinda spooky aesthetic we love. Available in S to XL, these unisex tees are 100 percent cotton and beautifully, er, executed… 2 TERROR THREADS FROSTBITE MUG $17 Finally, a mug that accurately depicts how most us feel before that first cup of coffee in the morning! Terror Threads’ black ceramic Frostbite coffee mug is dishwasher and microwave safe, and tailor-made for caffiends. 3 ANATOMICAL VENUS ENAMEL PINS $13 each Beauty truly is on the inside with these double clutch hard enamel pins featuring wax anatomical models from the 18th and 19th centuries. “Dissection” (1.75”) depicts the head of the famous medical model by Francesco Calenzouli, and “Deformation”…

IT WAS A CENTURY AGO THAT CANNIBALISM FIRST APPEARED IN CINEMA, IN SOMETHING THAT SEEMS RIGHT OUT OF THE WORLD OF ART HOUSE. The Enchanted Kiss (1917) is a two-part adaptation of an O. Henry story, which (according to a surviving review from Moving Picture World) is a “fantastical” film featuring a man who drinks absinthe and has a dream in which he can eat the flesh of young women to gain eternal youth. This depiction had little to do with the Jungle Savage stereotype that would follow in films featuring cannibals (and their comically giant cooking pots), such as the 1930 Disney cartoon Cannibal Capers; the Tarzan and Jungle Jim films of the ’30, ’40s and ’50s; and the 1949 Abbott and Costello comedy Africa Screams. As Brian D.…

THERE IS A NOTE OF MELANCHOLY IN RUSTY CUNDIEFF’S LAUGH WHEN HE IS ASKED HOW HE FEELS ABOUT THE PRESCIENCE OF TALES FROM THE HOOD. The 1995 horror anthology, which he co-wrote, directed and plays a role in, explores the anxieties and concerns of black America three years after the LA riots, including black-on-black violence, racist politicians and corrupt cops. Sound familiar? “Sadly, it’s the same lessons I was trying to teach then,” he says. “It has been surprising that the film seems so on point with what is happening today as it did then and how strongly a lot of these life themes within the black community have come back.” Tales From the Hood stars Clarence Williams III (Purple Rain, Maniac Cop 2) as Mr. Simms, a spooky funeral…

TASTE OF EVIL THE DEVIL’S CANDY Starring Ethan Embry, Shiri Appleby and Pruitt Taylor Vince Written and directed by Sean Byrne IFC Films After staging the most twisted “prom” imaginable in his attention-grabbing debut feature The Loved Ones, Australian filmmaker Sean Byrne came to the US for The Devil’s Candy, which is finally seeing North American release after burning up the festival scene over a year ago. This time, heavy metal is the music of choice for both its villain, Satan-worshipper Ray (Pruitt Taylor Vince), and a father and daughter who move into the rural Texas house where Ray once dwelled. It’s nice to see a movie where a taste for head-banging isn’t a wedge between parent and child, in this case artist Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry) and teenage Zooey…

The Dregs telegraphs its intentions loudly and clearly right from the beginning. After a series of contrasting shots comparing the Vancouver skylines of 1950, 1990 and present day, we switch to a slaughterhouse where a group of men execute a homeless man. They proceed to grind and process the remains, which are then shipped, cooked and served at an upscale restaurant It’s hardly a subtle metaphor but then, it wasn’t meant to be. Writers Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler were determined to shine a spotlight on the plight of the homeless in affluent Vancouver and wanted to strike an immediate chord. “It’s not enough to evoke the idea of cannibalism; we wanted to evoke the artistry in it,” says Thompson. “It’s something they did really well in Hannibal, and by…

WE EAT OUR OWN Kea Wilson Scribner The cannibal exploitation craze of the 1970s and ’80s looms large in the horror film canon. Admittedly, movies that foreground racism, gratuitous deaths, rape scenes and real animal slaughter can hardly be forgotten. These films often cannibalized (pun intended) each other, usually focusing on a group of white Westerners who venture into the jungle to expose the savagery of so-called “primitive” tribes, only to reveal themselves as the real savages. Ruggero Deodato’s found-footage-style Cannibal Holocaust remains the most notorious of all the cannibal exploitation movies. Production on the 1980 film was problematic; many actors were traumatized by their participation in sexually explicit scenes and animal deaths. After its premiere, the film was confiscated and Deodato was arrested and charged with not only obscenity…

Andy Howl, owner and operator of Howl Gallery/Tattoo in Fort Myers, Florida, has reteamed with Church of Satan’s High Priest Peter H. Gilmore for their second art book, The Devil’s Reign: Psychedelic Blasphemy. The book itself is a beautifully bound collection of works depicting Lucifer living life quite deliciously. The embossed Baphomet and hazy ’70s-era font delivers a trip through Hades with paintings, sketches, toys and tattoos by 100 of today’s best illustrators, handpicked by Gilmore. They include Mitch O’Connell, gig poster artists such as Derek Hess and Brian Ewing, controversial Zap Comix legend S. Clay Wilson, Psycho Charger’s Jimmy Psycho and several tattoo artists. I spoke to Howl to shed some darkness on the collection. How did you meet Peter? We were introduced by a mutual friend, Thomas Thorn…

DEADLY DOWNSIZING SILENT RETREAT Midnight Releasing If you ever have a friend suggest a weekend retreat at a cabin in the woods – look him squarely in the face and tell him to go fuck himself. For as fun as it might sound, cabins are magnets for serial killers, chainsaw-wielding maniacs and mutated hillbillies waiting to slice and dice you all for dinner. In Silent Retreat, a media company takes its employees to the woods to brainstorm whatever it is that media companies brainstorm when – lo and behold – they’re attacked by somebody who likes tearing out tongues. ’Nuff said. Plagued by horrific acting and a confusing back story that should’ve been cut out completely, this film is best watched after consuming a fistful of s’mores and an entire…

From thumbscrews and the rack to the stocks and razor-sharp pendulums, the deliberate cruelty of torture has been a long-running theme in horror cinema, appearing prominently in early Universal classics right into the more recent “torture porn” boom. One of a handful of pioneering efforts that pushed the boundaries for depictions of torture on screen, the almost forgotten chiller Chamber of Horrors (1940), hits Blu-ray from Kino this month. Released at a time when scenes of suffering were still largely taboo, the film features a most unusual iron maiden that serves as a stark reminder of the historical legacy of human cruelty. Many early horror films simply alluded to torture by having scenes set in prominently dark and dingy places of suffering, from cluttered mad scientist laboratories to Island of…

HOW DO YOU TOP ONE OF THE YEAR’S MOST LAUDED HORROR NOVELS? With a brand-new collection of short stories and novellas, of course! Hot on the heels of The Fisherman (Word Horde, 2016), John Langan’s ambitious novel of cosmic dread and human loss, which rightly garnered some serious praise, is a new book certain to solidify his place among the strongest voices in modern literary horror. Sefira and Other Betrayals (out April from Hippocampus Press) contains stories previously published in such prestigious anthologies as Supernatural Noir, Blood and Other Cravings, Ghosts by Gaslight, Black Wings Vol. 2, Shadows Edge and others, but also includes one original novella, Sefira, and an original novelette, At Home in the Devil’s House. Placed together within the same cover for the first time, a theme…

Back in the tape-trading days of the ’90s, low generation duplicates of films not available in North America were good bait. Known lineage dupes of stuff like the Hong Kong laser disc of Cannibal Holocaust (1980) or the Japanese VHS pre-record of Mermaid in a Manhole (1988) were keys to a magic kingdom of low-gen treasures. There were two types of these tapes. Low-gen dupes of Japanese tapes were relatively common, as the country adhered to the same video standard – NTSC – as the US and Canada, so tapes released exclusively in Japan could be imported and copied easily. Tapes from Europe had to first be converted from the PAL video standard to NTSC. Consequently, low-gen PAL transfers were rare, as they required a prohibitive investment in equipment, hence…

Alabama’s Cancerslug has been oozing in the dank recesses of underground horrorpunk and metal for eighteen years but gained wider attention when frontman Alex Story emerged as the vocalist for musclebound Misfit Doyle’s self-titled solo project in 2013. The truth is, Cancerslug has never operated as a traditional band, but has instead released music digitally for free whenever it felt like, often in demo quality, only to re-release the material years later in proper album format. Story has stated he doesn’t even know how many actual Cancerslug albums there are. Last year the band announced a two-part series of farewell albums, presumably because Doyle would be taking Story’s full attention. I caught up with the mutton-chopped crooner for the final word on Cancerslug only to find out the story ain’t…

THROUGHOUT THE DECADES, BRAM STOKER’S CLASSIC NOVEL HAS BEEN ADAPTED INTO NUMEROUS STAGE PLAYS, FILMS, RADIO SHOWS, TV programs, comic books and pretty much anything else you can think of. One of the latest versions is a spoken-word album slated for release this April from Cadabra Records. Available as a limited-edition release, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the brainchild of actor and filmmaker Anthony D.P. Mann, who says it comes from his long-time love of radio theatre. “Back in the 1990s, I used to produce these fun, old-school live radio plays in Montreal,” recalls Mann, who not only acts as writer and executive producer on the project, but also lends his voice to the role of vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing. “When I first started to toy with the idea of…

NOW PLAYING > CAMP SUNSHINE, SONNY CAMP SUNSHINE Windows, Mac Fossil Games Since the English-language release of the RPG Maker engine in 2005, it’s never been easier for indie developers to create the role-playing game they always dreamed of. The duo behind Fossil Games apparently dreamt of a classic ’80s RPG in a classic ’80s slasher environment, and with the help of a successful, albeit modest, crowdfunding campaign, Camp Sunshine is almost the debut release of their dreams… almost. You play as average teen Jez, dumped off at Camp Sunshine to enjoy summer break while his parents go about splitting up. Alas, on his very first night at the camp, he awakens to sinister laughter and finds his cabinmate, as well as most of the other campers and staff, brutally…